CHICAGO
A Naperville engineer Brian Howard used wire cutters to sever multiple telecommunications cables at Chicago Air Route Control Center that sparked thousands of flight cancellations and delays throughout the country in 2014, officials said.
In addition, Howard set fire to the equipment to cause more damage, according to authorities.
Today, U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman sentenced Howard to 12 years and six months in prison, officials said.
Howard, 37, plead guilty in May to one count of willfully damaging, destroying or disabling an air navigation facility, and one count of using fire to commit a federal felony.
At the time of the incident, which occurred on Sept. 26, 2014, Howard worked as an engineer for Harris Corp., a telecommunications contractor for the Federal Aviation Administration. This enabled him to gain access to an area of the Control Center’s basement that housed key components of the Control Center’s telecommunication infrastructure, according to authorities.
Howard tried to take his own life after the incident, officials said.
The judge also ordered that Howard to pay $4.5 million in restitution to the Federal Aviation Administration.
“Brian Howard attacked a critical piece of infrastructure in our nation’s airspace, causing one of the most severe disruptions to air travel in recent memory,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Polovin. “He committed a violent crime that put thousands of lives at risk, and his crime warranted the sentence he received.”
The incident occurred on Sept. 26, 2014 and the damage to the cables resulted in the immediate grounding of planes flying over the Midwest, and several days of flight cancellations and delays across the country, according to authorities.
Howard admitted in his plea agreement that by severing the cables and setting fire to the Control Center’s telecommunication equipment, he increased the risk to aircraft traveling through the Control Center’s airspace.
He further acknowledged in the plea agreement that his actions were intended to disrupt air travel and to effectively shut down the Control Center.
Paramedics arrived at the Control Center shortly after the incident and found Howard attempting to slice his own throat with a knife, according to a criminal complaint and affidavit.
Howard told the paramedics to leave him alone, but the paramedics took the knife out of his hand and administered treatment, the affidavit states.